Justin Knox has worn an Alabama uniform for the last time. (The Birmingham News / Hal Yeager)Justin Knox is "down and out" about losing his appeal of the exceptions Alabama placed on his transfer, his uncle said Monday night.

"He can’t believe they’d deny this after everything he’s done for the school," Darien Knox said. "We see where we stand with the university now."

The elder Knox said his nephew, who played three years for the Alabama basketball team and is on track to graduate this summer, received a one-word email notifying him of the appeal committee’s decision.

The one word: "Denied."

Darien Knox said the family is considering legal action against the university as a last resort.

"Once we get back to Alabama," he said, "we’ll sit down as a family and come up with a decision as a whole on whether to fight it legally."

Alabama granted Knox a transfer release with exceptions April 30, and he appealed those exceptions at a hearing last week in front of a university committee made up of faculty and academic staff members.

By denying Knox’s appeal, the committee upheld the original exceptions. He’s free to transfer, but Alabama will not provide a Permission to Contact letter for him to another SEC school, a school on Alabama’s still-incomplete 2010-11 schedule or to another school in the University of Alabama System.

That means Knox will have to scratch UAB and Ole Miss from his short list of schools where he might like to play his final season in 2010-11 as a graduate student.

"I think he was leaning toward UAB," Darien Knox said, "because (UAB coach) Mike Davis recruited him out of high school and knows his game. It would’ve been a good fit."

The only reaction from Alabama to the appeal committee’s decision was this statement from Athletics Director Mal Moore: "We wish nothing but the best for Justin and all of his future endeavors."

The appeal appears to be Knox’s last resort within the NCAA system. SEC assistant commissioner Gil Grimes, who spoke in general terms and did not address the Knox case specifically, said NCAA relief is "generally not" available to a student-athlete when his institution refuses to issue Permission to Contact letters to specific schools.

Knox is still free to transfer to UAB after finishing his undergraduate degree at Alabama this summer, but according to NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3, he would not be able to receive "athletically related financial assistance" for a year, nor would he be able to play the upcoming season as a walk-on.

The 6-foot-9, 245-pound post player has other options. His uncle accompanied him on an official visit to North Carolina on Sunday and Monday, and they plan to travel from there Tuesday to another official visit at Georgia Tech. Knox played pick-up games with some current North Carolina players Monday, his uncle said, and UNC has offered him a scholarship.

"They’re showing us a lot of love," Darien Knox said. "They’re treating us like family. Coach (Roy) Williams is a class act."

NCAA rules allow Knox to take up to five official visits. His uncle said he may add South Alabama, Southern Miss and Georgia State to his list of trips, or "he may just decide between Georgia Tech and North Carolina."